The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Handmaid's Tale
Book Review: A Glimpse of a Possible Future
Summary: 5 Stars
The Handmaid's Tale is sci-fi at its best; take a supposition and follow it out to its most absurd conclusion. In this book, Atwood depicts how the future could be if all the Fundamentalist Christians were allowed free reign to become a new type of Nazis. I read this after watching the movie, which was excellent with Robert Duvall and Natasha Richardson. But, of course, the book is even better. Really made me think about gender roles and the morality of righteousness.Book Review: A Great Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I liked this book a lot! It was easily able to make me think of how this pertains to our current society. Even the beginning of the crumbling of that society seems to be evident in today's world. The book was very well-written, even though it didn't have any elaborate sentences. Overall, I loved this book. I wasn't very attached to Offred, but I was saddened by her dilemma. I really like the characters in the book, and I think that Atwood wrote an incredible story. I especially loved the historical notes, and thought it tied the whole thing together well.Book Review: A Great Book and A Must Read
Summary: 5 Stars
...I would like you to know that this exact scenario happened Sept 1996 in Aghanistan. Over night 11 million women were enslaved in their homes no longer alowed to leave. Educated women that worked as everything from doctors to teachers are now confined in their homes and covered head to toe in black cloth, and their windows painted over. Do not spread lies that blind women to the real threat around some of them. (I myself like to believe this will not happen in the US, so I can sleep at night, but we must make sure people do not have the means to do it.)
Now on to the book......I just finished reading this book for a university lit. class and I have to say I finished it in one night. It was so interesting, if you're thinking about reading it just do it. It is an easy read, very straight forward. Again I was through it in a night, but it also tells an important story.
Book Review: A Great Read
Summary: 5 Stars
I've just read this again after about fifteen years since my first reading. This time round I am more aware of the upsurge in religious fundamentalism in the real world and so there are elements within the story that are not so unbelievable. Some women in Iran and Afghanistan for example have experienced a change from relative western-type freedom to being covered and kept at home as mothers exclusively. It would be foolish to assume that any society is totaly safe from such revolutions.
In 'The Handmaids Tale' the revolution seems to have been brought about, at least in part, by widespread infertility caused by nuclear accidents, various pollutants and toxic waste. Only some women are fertile and are used by certain high-class couples for producing children. One passage that stood out for me this time round was the Japanese tourists, the women in short skirts, asking to take photogaraphs of the handmaids and enquiring through an interpreter about the handmaids happiness etc. The 'modern', 'normal' world is still going on outside of 'Gilead' - not totally unlike the contrasts between some societies around the world today but here it is the US that has flipped.
All futuristic fiction makes us ask questions about the worlds and lifestyles we tend to take for granted and this is a large part of its attraction but it works best when it also is a great read. 'The Handmaid's Tale' is certainly a great read.
Book Review: A Great Read
Summary: 5 Stars
The Handmaid's Tale is the story of Offred, one of the few fertile women left in the Republic of Gilead, a dystopia at its worst. Toxic waste has left population levels dangerously low and religious leaders have taken control of the country, using desperate measures to repopulate the Earth. Offred is one of the many "handmaids" who are forced to live with a commander and trys to conceive a child with him once a month. The book chronicles Offred's life as she is living with Commander Fred (hence "Of Fred"). Atwood wrote this novel at a time when there was the possibility of religious leaders establishing a theocracy. She portrays the havoc that can come about when a democracy loses its control over the people. Atwood does this extremely effectively. Since the whole book is through Offred's eyes, the one-person limited view point makes you use your imagination to fill in the gaps left by her lack of knowledge. The book isn't so extreme that it's unbelievable and is so descriptively written that it almost feels as if it the events already happened in history. It was truly a great read.